05/01/2023
⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️
Dear Newark Community,
The Harrington Family needs our help in a big way.
They have dedicated their lives to serving the community through their work at Harrington Arts Alliance. They have put their hearts into this organization, and it is literally being ripped from them at this very moment. Completely. See statement below. Please write to the current HAA Board of Directors (Michael J. Suit, Rosanna Houston, David Felts, Kyla Suit, Kelby Siegfried, and Kelly Schutte) and ask for their resignation. Their actions have displayed a failure of proper governance of Harrington Arts Alliance and will have a negative impact on the community. Email them today at [email protected]. Let us know you did by writing “Done” in the comments section.
Statement from Brandon Harrington:
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT REGARDING MY FUTURE AT THE HARRINGTON ARTS ALLIANCE:
I will be taking a voluntary leave of absence until the current Board of Directors have been removed by July 1st, 2023, or I will not be returning to HAA.
I am making this public statement 13 minutes after I have alerted the Board of my stance with my 13 page letter to them, the same amount of time given to Brittany to process her termination before the Board went public. I know you are yearning for information and transparency. I don’t believe the Harringtons are replaceable.
Here is a quick timeline:
March 20 - The Board of Directors suspends Brittany.
April 8 - The cast of “Spring Awakening” walked out on the production after the Board stated she would not be returning.
April 18 - Zoe Kelley-Jones, HAA’s Assistant Manager resigns from her dream job.
April 22 - “Ratman” closes.
April 24 - The Board of Directors votes my Mom, Marily Harrington off the Board.
April 25 - Brittany is officially terminated.
April 26 - On his 18th Birthday, of his own volition, Elliot Harrington resigns as Summer Production lead for “Frozen”.
April 30 - Brandon Harrington, Co-Founder of the Harrington Arts Alliance, and once Co-Owner of the Harrington Arts Academy voluntarily takes a leave of absence until the current Board is removed.
I want to make it clear that I am not abandoning you. I have given everything to the Harrington Arts Alliance, sacrificed it all, selflessly worked myself to the bone to make our dreams a reality. It has been the hardest and most humbling thing I have ever done. The blood, sweat, tears, and frenetic pace was all worth it when it was about the students, the art, the HAArt, the FAMILY! The people, the volunteers, the Harrington Family, we are not replaceable. What is an “entity” without the people? It is just an empty vessel. WE all bring the magic to the space.
This is what I have to do for my family’s legacy, everything we’ve built, and life’s work. Continue to believe in us. The Harringtons and what we stand for are synonymous with HAA’s mission. Unfortunately I can’t complete my duties when Family and HAArt are removed from the equation. This has been devastating and in some ways harder to deal with than the death of our patriarch, the man that lit the fire in me and countless others through his 30 plus years of teaching, my Dad, my hero, Steven “H” Harrington. My 10 year old daughter poignantly said it best, “Losing HAA is like losing a family member.”
I couldn’t be more disappointed or discouraged. If you still believe in me, Brittany, and want our family involved at HAA, I urge you to advocate for a change in Board leadership. Feel free to share this to the extended HAA community, but moving forward if you decide to take action, please do it with grace. We all deserve grace and forgiveness.
I’ve entertained, taught, and raised up thousands of kids with my presentations, workshops, anti-bullying and character building assemblies, readings, and performances. I’ve watched my own children and your children grow up on OUR stage. We put smiles on people’s faces. We evoke emotion. We save lives. Our work is so important.
I did what I set out to do, but there is so much for US. I’m ready for Act Two. This can’t be our curtain call.
“Do you hear the people sing….
…when the beating of your heart
echoes the beating of the drums.
There is a life about to start when tomorrow comes…
Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.”
Victor Hugo, Les Miserables
Brandon Harrington, Stitches, Playwright, Director, Performer, Scenic Artist, Janitor
